Tech Digest – Week 30, 2012

The Right mix of policies to promote cloud computing

According to one estimate Cloud will generate more than a trillion dollars in revenue with millions of jobs over the next few years around the world. The main problem is, many governments are working to seize the cloud opportunity in misguided ways, such as by walling off domestic markets so local players play free with zero international competition. The United States, Europe, and other governments around the world need to urgently adopt a better mix of cloud policies. That should start by getting three big things right:

• First, privacy and security rules need to protect consumers while also encouraging robust digital commerce
• Second, there needs to be cooperation on a free-trade agenda that ensures data can flow across borders
• Finally, we need to promote innovation in the cloud the same way we promote it everywhere else. That means protecting innovators' rights when they bring new products to market, and it means stopping all forms of cybercrime and theft

For complete information visit: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-holleyman/the-right-mix-of-policies_b_1703154.html

Cloud Business Intelligence moving up on enterprise agendas

Saugatuck Technology research found that just 13 percent of global enterprises said they were using cloud BI or analytics in 2011. But the same research indicates BI will be one of the fastest-growing cloud apps through 2013. Saugatuck forecasts a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 84 percent for cloud business intelligence from 2011-2013. Cloud BI is especially appealing because it can be adopted and used more quickly and inexpensively across more operational areas, processes and functions than can on-premise solutions.

For complete information visit: http://www.enterpriseappstoday.com/business-intelligence/cloud-business-intelligence-moving-up-enterprise-agendas-bi.html

Tips for writing multiplatform mobile apps

When mobile apps are to be developed the platform targets can be Android, BlackBerry, iOS or Windows that can be written in each platform's preferred language. This can also be done using a third-party tool to generate code for different platforms and it can save time and effort, though it may affect usability slightly. Instead of accessing the app from a web server, the web files (HTML/JavaScript/CSS) are packaged for the device and executed in a browser container on the device. A number of third-party tools such as PhoneGap take advantage of this feature, giving programmers access to multiple platforms with a single code base.

For complete information visit: http://www.informationweek.com/news/development/mobility/240003476

Collaboration in mobile BI and the need for security

“Enterprises must understand that security is important even when using collaboration features in Mobile BI applications and ensure that appropriate user-training is provided to utilize these features in an effective, yet responsible and secure fashion” as said by Anand Sinha Chief Architect, Technology and Innovation Platform, SAP Labs.

As with most features in mobile applications, the collaboration features too come with the concerns of security of information. When sharing a screenshot through the BI application for collaborative discussions, users must be allowed to hide certain sensitive parts of the report and crop out certain unnecessary parts. The application must also facilitate the adding of a watermark to the screenshot before sharing. These steps allow the users to visually secure the screenshot based on the collaboration goals. For example, a person in HR department may blur out the personnel’s names and ID’s before sharing a screenshot of a report that shows individual salaries.

For complete information visit: http://www.computerworld.in/opinion/collaboration-mobile-bi-and-need-security-19662012